Vehicle registration plate

[4] Additionally, citizens can create custom plates, following specific guidelines and naming conventions approved by the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA).

China requires the re-registration of any vehicle that crosses its borders from another country, such as for overland tourist visits, regardless of the length of time it is due to remain there; this has to be arranged with prior approval.

Allowing for repeating letters and digits, the combinations for each of these will be: France was the first country to introduce the registration plate with the enactment of the Paris Police Ordinance on 14 August 1893,[7] followed by Germany in 1896.

While peculiar local variants exist, there are four basic standards worldwide: Additional sizes include: Previous sizes included: Algerian registration plates are manufactured according to the same standards as their French counterparts (prior to 2009), using the same font and dimensions – although there has been a recent tendency to apply custom typefaces (impact and century gothic have been observed).

Above the combination there was a metallic band with the state abbreviation (SP = São Paulo, RJ = Rio de Janeiro, PR = Paraná, AM = Amazonas, etc.)

[30] The first registration plates in the United States were made out of leather, rubber, iron, and porcelain, painted on the front in usually two different colors – one for the background and one for the lettering.

A few make political statements; for example, most plates issued in District of Columbia include the phrase "Taxation Without Representation" to highlight D.C.'s lack of a voting representative in the United States Congress.

In some states (Georgia, Iowa, Kentucky, Mississippi, Tennessee, Ohio, and some versions in Florida), the issuing county is listed at the bottom, while Kansas does so with a letter-coded registration sticker; Utah did so until 2003.

Seventeen states – Alabama, Arizona, Delaware, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas,[33] Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, New Jersey, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Wyoming – and both the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, have moved to entirely digitally printed "flat" registration plates.

Tactical vehicles of the United States military do not bear registration plates, even if they travel regularly on public streets and highways.

Indonesian vehicle plates share the legacy of the Dutch colonial era, which do not reflect the regional divisions of the country into provinces, but the old system of karesidenan or residencies.

North Korean vehicle plates follow the pattern XX-##-###, where "XX" is replaced with two Hangul syllables spelling the province name.

In a 2024 interview with NK News, the Swedish diplomat August Borg noted the bicycle policy during his time working in North Korea and considered it "unreasonable".

The blue bar consists of the name of Lebanon in Arabic (لبنان), the Lebanese Cedar tree in the middle, and the vehicle's classification all in white.

Malaysian registration plates are displayed at the front and rear of all private and commercial motorised vehicles in Malaysia, as required by law.

The issuing of the registration plates is regulated and administered by the Malaysian Road Transport Department (Malay: Jabatan Pengangkutan Jalan Malaysia) or JPJ.

Similarly, the new number plates also help authorities to maintain digital records of vehicles plying on the roads, collect revenue on time and control auto theft.

On the left hand side of the number plate is the country emblem, below which is a two-letter region identifier e.g. WP represents the Western Province.

In the European Union (EU), white or yellow number plates of a common format and size are issued throughout, although they are still optional in some member states.

The common design[48] consists of a blue strip on the left of the plate, which has the EU motif (12 yellow stars), along with the country code of the member state in which the vehicle was registered.

[53] Also, electric cars have access to plates that begin with either "EL", "EK", "EV", "EB", "EC", "ED", "EE", "EF", or "EH".

There are 9 types in use: Current Russian registration plates are a mix of French FNI, traditional Arabic "windows", and Soviet "small characters", introduced in 1993.

Number plates including the "GB" code are valid in countries party to the Vienna Convention on Road Traffic if displayed on its own or together with the Union Jack.

In 2019, the UK government announced that it was considering introducing green number plates for zero emissions vehicles, making them easier to recognize.

[70][71][72][73] The letter combinations KZ, HJ, SS and SA are not issued for license plates anywhere in Germany due to their Nazi associations.

The most common of these include fastening bolts with ornamental heads in a myriad of styles; these are generally legal everywhere providing the plate itself is not obscured.

Large stand-alone glass or plastic reflectors or cataphotes – some imprinted with an advertising message – are still common plate toppers whenever registration-plate brackets are able to accommodate them.

The physical requirements for the separate sign are defined in Annex 3 of the Vienna Convention on Road Traffic, which states that the letters shall be in black on a white background having the shape of an ellipse with the major axis horizontal.

In Canada, Mexico and the United States, where the international oval is not used on vehicles from neighboring countries, putting one on a car is a matter of personal choice.

[78][79][80][81][82][83] In 2014, Randwick councilor Charles Matthews proposed to impose a $50 registration fee on bicycle riders, which would be used to help fund cycleways being built by the council.

Some jurisdictions license non-traditional vehicles, such as golf carts , particularly on-road vehicles, such as this one in Put-in-Bay, Ohio .
A car registration plate from the United Kingdom. The "GB" or "UK" marks have been used in the United Kingdom in various years. [ 1 ]
Two Swedish snowmobiles with license plates attached to the side of the vehicles
License plate size comparison
Rear plate for a private vehicle
GJ 34
Burkina Faso passenger plate
Burkina Faso Gendarmerie plate
Cameroonian diplomatic registration plate
Cameroonian license plate
An old Kenyan number plate from the 1970s
Morocco , Agadir registration plate
Northern Province number plate (1995)
Argentinian registration plate
Bolivian registration plate issued in La Paz , as indicated by the "L" sticker in the top right corner
Plate for a private vehicle issued in 2018 from Rio de Janeiro , Brazil
An Ontario licence plate, demonstrating the standardised North American size
A Canadian plate used by the federal government
Colombian vehicle registration plate
Colombian vehicle registration plate
Greenland registration plate. All current plates have the GR 12 345 format.
Baja Californian Euro-style registration plate (unofficial)
Mexico Sonora registration plate
Standard California plate as of 2011
Standard Tennessee plate, with the county name, seen in use in February 2022
Standard Pennsylvania plate using sample lettering
Blue PRC registration plate of the 1992 standard
Macau number plates for private vehicles, as observed in 2009
2020 standard template for motorbikes
Indian vehicle registration plate ( West Bengal ). WB-06 stands for Kolkata.
Plates used for private vehicles (here: 12B365-11 )
Plate used for governmental automobiles (letter " الف " or " A ")
Plates used for taxis (letter " ت " or " T ")
Plates used for police (letter " پ " or " P ") (Letter " ث " or " " is used for IRGC in the same green color.)
Plates used for people with disabilities (wheelchair symbol or letter " ژ "or" Ž ")
Private vehicle license plate guide
Kurdistan Region registration plate since 2022
Iraq Governmental registration plate
Iraq private car license plate, province of Basrah
Israeli vehicle registration plate with a size compliant with that of European Union license plates
Israeli vehicle registration plate with a size compliant with that of American license plates
Israeli motorcycle, moped, and scooter license plate
Japanese registration plate (schematic illustration). This sample registration plate is registered to Tama .
Jordanian private vehicle registration plate
North Korean registration plate from Pyongyang (1992)
South Korean vehicle registration plate
A standard Peninsular Malaysian registration plate, registered in Penang and affixed on a dealership plate frame
Standard Nepali vehicle registration plate
2014-style Saudi Arabia registration plate
Black on white (front) and black on yellow (rear) number plate scheme in Singapore
A white on black number plate scheme in Singapore
Sri Lankan number plate for front of vehicle
Sri Lankan number plate for rear of vehicle
Vietnamese civilian vehicle registration plate. 51 denotes that the province is Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) .
A plate of Bosnia and Herzegovina , showing the typical European style of black-on-white lettering, a blue strip on the left, and in one column (except motorcycles), issued through most of the continent
Netherlands is one of few countries in Europe to use yellow plates throughout (front and rear)
Standard Finnish registration plate as seen in 2007
Standard Polish registration plates (with laser engraving)
Swedish registration plates
Turkish vehicle registration plate
UA number plate
NSW number plate
Victoria number plate
Queensland number plate
Western Australia number plate
South Australia number plate
A.C.T. number plate
Tasmania number plate
Northern Territory number plate
A motorcade transporting senior members of the official party to an event in Canberra in November 2009. The black car, at left, with the number plate ADF1 , carried the Chief of the Defence Force; the white car behind it, with the number plate C1 , carried the Prime Minister; and the black car, second from the right, carried the Governor-General.
Rare Antarctica registration plate [ citation needed ]
An example of a vanity registration plate from Texas , 2012 issue. This plate references the Star Wars character Chewbacca .
A "Euro Plate" issued in the Australian state of Western Australia
Temporary registration plate in Ontario
Temporary registration plate in Montenegro
Miami Beach license topper